What is Suite on HANA?

What is Suite on HANA: ECC and SAP Business Suite

Suite on HANA is ECC running on an SAP HANA database. ECC, or Enterprise Core Component, is a set of ERP tools for core business functions like finance, logistics, warehouse management, and sales and distribution. SAP ECC was designed to run on a range of databases including Sybase ASE, MS SQL Server, Oracle, and others.

With the release of SAP HANA, organizations can now run their ERP on SAP’s in memory HANA database. Migrating to Business Suite on HANA boosts performance, and provides the same functionality as running ECC on traditional disk based databases. Additionally, organizations can upgrade to their Suite on HANA systems with S/4HANA add-ons.

SAP Business Suite vs. S/4HANA

For S/4HANA, SAP is in the process of renovating the ECC code, simplifying and optimizing the software, and adding new functionality. There’s a complete S/4HANA Finance module today and an improved logistics module nearing completion. The remainder of your systems functionality with S/4HANA add-ons behaves like SAP Business Suite on HANA from the user’s perspective. Companies that migrate to Suite on HANA today, will be able to upgrade their systems with S/4HANA add-ons in the future with relative ease.

Choosing the Right SAP HANA Strategy

At this point, Symmetry generally recommends moving to Business Suite on HANA in your next earliest project cycle. For many organizations, adding the S/4HANA simplified modules may not convey enough additional benefit to justify upgrading the additional components just yet. But moving to SOH now will have you poised to add the Simplified components later through mini conversion projects.

For organizations that heavily utilized the financial module within SAP ECC, the enhancements in S/4HANA Simple Finance may represent solid motivation to upgrade beyond migration to Suite on HANA. Distributors, commercial fleets and other companies that focus on the SAP logistics module may have interest in upgrading to S/4HANA in the near future, as the logistics module in the next module to be optimized. Additionally, organizations deploying SAP ERP for the first time, and/or moving from other ERP solutions, are encourage to deploy directly on HANA; and thereby, will be well prepared to upgrade with S/4HANA add-ons when the time is appropriate. will be delivered directly from another system might as well start with S/4HANA, since they’ll be rebuilding their IT infrastructure anyway.

Your company’s timetable and appetite for project are critical factors when determining whether to land on Suite on HANA or Suite on HANA with S/4HANA updates. If your business allows for regular windows for planning and executing projects, moving to HANA without additional updates may be the best fit. If, on the other hand, your company keeps large project activity to a minimum, combining the move to HANA with the S/4HANA add-ons may be more appropriate.

Talk to the SAP HANA Experts

The costs of an SAP HANA migration are substantial, but so are the rewards. Moving to the SAP HANA cloud, and upgrading to S/4HANA at the right time can ease the transition, while controlling CapEx and OpEx. Symmetry is an SAP-certifiedERP Managed Services provider with the expertise to help organizations change their IT infrastructure in a way that makes sense for them. With our proof of concept offering, you can quickly test what Suite on HANA with/or without S/4HANA add-ons can do for your business with minimal costs and disruption. Contact us to learn more about how SAP HANA can benefit your business.

Curtis has a unique ability to deliver technical knowledge to create customs solutions per the client requirements, by not only taking the technical specifications into consideration but also the business drivers particular to that organization in turn creating an optimal SAP environment. This skilled approached includes scoping, planning, and execution of various projects including Migrations/Upgrades/Installs, Hosting and ongoing Managed Services. He also stays abreast of the latest technologies such as road mapping solutions for client’s to leverage SAP HANA® in their current environment to then be hosted in Symmetry’s state-of- the -art Datacenter.